CNN: Obama, Boehner move closer on taxes, spending cuts
President Barack Obama responded on Monday to House Speaker John Boehner's offer to compromise on tax rate increases with his own compromise on both tax increases and spending cuts, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Obama's latest offer brings the two sides billions of dollars closer to a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, which promises tax increases on income of all levels and across-the-board spending cuts in the new year.

CNN: Lawmakers seem prepared to tackle gun control: 'This one feels different'
In Washington and around the country, the legacy left by the 26 people - 20 of them young children - slaughtered in a school shooting on Friday in Newtown, Connecticut, might indeed be meaningful legislative reform. Over the past few days, several lawmakers have promised to introduce or reintroduce gun control legislation, ranging from a reinstatement of a federal ban on assault weapons to banning the sale of high-capacity magazines.

CNN Security Clearance: Clapper to stay on as intel chief
With the president expected to soon name his choices for leadership at the State Department, Pentagon and CIA, one key position will remain consistent – the director of national intelligence. James Clapper has told colleagues he will be staying as director of national intelligence (DNI), according to a senior U.S. official with direct knowledge of Clapper's plans. The official said Clapper will stay at the head of the Office of Director of National Intelligence "for the foreseeable future."

CNN: Hawaii's Daniel Inouye, Senate's second longest-serving member, dead at 88
Daniel Inouye, a World War II veteran who received the Medal of Honor and represented Hawaii in the Senate for five decades, has died, his office announced Monday. He was 88. He died of respiratory complications Monday evening shortly at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, with his wife and son at his side.

CNN: Sporting goods chain suspends sale of certain semi-automatic after shooting
Dick's Sporting Goods, one of the largest sporting goods retailers in the world, says it has removed all guns from its store nearest to Newtown, Connecticut, and is suspending the sale of certain kinds of semi-automatic rifles from its chains nationwide. The move was made out of respect for the victims and families of last week's Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting "during this time of national mourning," the store said in a statement Tuesday morning.

CNN: Executions, death sentences remain steady over past year
Executions and death sentences remained steady over the past year, but the number of states carrying out capital punishment continues to drop, according to a study released Tuesday. Forty-three men were put to death in 2012, matching 2011's total, reported the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). Eighty people were sentenced to death, the second lowest total since executions resumed in 1976.

CNN: School resumes for students haunted by Newtown tragedy
With memories of last week's school massacre still hauntingly fresh, most students in Newtown will return to the classroom Tuesday with their sense of normalcy shattered. They'll see more police and more counselors in their buildings. But nothing can erase what happened to 20 other students across town at Sandy Hook Elementary. Survivors from Sandy Hook won't return. Their school is still a crime scene.

CNN: 'So long, Ebb and Flow': NASA crashes probes into moon
A pair of robotic twins that have been diligently mapping the moon this year went out with a bang Monday. As scheduled, the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory probes Ebb and Flow crashed into a mountain on the moon, ending a fruitful mission to study the surface and composition of the celestial body.

CNN: Egypt's prosecutor general quits amid protest
Egypt's prosecutor general, appointed to the job just last month by President Mohamed Morsy, gave into demands of lower prosecutors by agreeing to resign next week. The protesters converged on the prosecuting general's office at the High Court Sunday, refusing to leave until Talaat Abdallah resigned.

CNN: North Korea holds little sway in South Korea's election
Security issues concerning North Korea have not become a major issue for South Korean voters, even after the controversial rocket launch that drew international condemnation last week. The most pressing issues for South Koreans at the polls on Wednesday, are similar to the ones that dominated U.S. voters when they cast their ballots in November - the economy.

CNNMoney: Two fund managers guilty in latest insider trading case
Two former hedge fund managers were convicted Monday in an insider trading case that prosecutors have called "a stunning portrait of organized corruption on a grand scale." The two men are the latest scalps in the government's ongoing insider trading crackdown. Prosecutors have now secured 71 insider-trading convictions since August 2009.

CNNMoney: Tax bite on the rich if rates go up
The fiscal cliff may not be resolved yet. But after House Speaker John Boehner's latest offer to the White House, it's fair to assume now that tax rates will be going up on the rich in some fashion. Just how high those rates will be and how "rich" will be defined remain open questions.

CNNMoney: Refunds from credit card issuers on the way
Attention Discover, American Express and Capital One credit card customers: Don't be surprised if you see a credit show up on your monthly statement soon. The three issuers owe a collective $435 million in refunds to nearly 6 million customers as a result of a government crackdown on deceptive credit card practices by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In case you missed it…
Brooke Baldwin talks to school safety expert Kenneth Trump about the future of school security.